Science
K-3 Science
About Grades K-3 Science
Westborough’s vision for science teaching and learning is one in which students are actively engaged in the critical thinking, discourse, and activities of scientists to learn about the world around them. Our K-3 inquiry-based program aligns with the Massachusetts Science and Technology/Engineering Curriculum Frameworks (2016) and focuses on both content (what students will learn) and practices (how students will learn). In an inquiry-based teaching model, students are introduced to a phenomenon (an observable event) that anchors the topic of study. They explore scientific concepts by thinking like and doing the work of scientists - posing questions, making observations and predictions, engaging in hands-on investigations, collecting and recording data, and creating models - which allows students to make sense of and to explain observable events.
The National Science Teaching Association defines the Science and Engineering Practices (“doing the work of scientists”) as, “behaviors that scientists engage in as they investigate and build models and theories about the natural world and the key set of engineering practices that engineers use as they design and build models and systems.” (NSTA.org) These practices are integrated into each science learning experience: as students record predictions, observations, and data/results in science notebooks, as they create models to explain scientific phenomena, and as they begin to make scientific claims and identify evidence to support them.
National Science Teaching Association's
PreK-12 science practices
The Massachusetts/NGSS Science and Engineering Practices are:
- Asking questions and defining problems
- Developing and using models
- Planning and carrying out investigations
- Analyzing and interpreting data
- Using mathematical and computational thinking
- Constructing explanations and designing solutions
- Engaging in argument from evidence
- Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
